THREE NIGHTS IN LA GUYANE FRANCAISE
Off to another country. Was it a tick? Hmmm. Taxi-driver cousin Orlando took us over the large bridge crossing the Paramaribo river and onward to Albina, through lush countryside and past churches and little settlements
Once stamped out of Surname and into no man's land, a border-river crossing. Fantastic.
The mode of crossing the Maroni river is a US$5pp pirogue (speedboat-cum-gondola)
bit wobbly and jolly close to the water's surface but most enjoyable
On the other side is St Laurent du Maroni
Now, I know it's France but it still feels very improbable!
OK, that feels better. Jungle and baguettes!
D makes the 1km walk to Jumbo cars where we're expecting to collect our little blue hire-car, and the large Super-U supplies a marvellous feast, which we guzzle at a picnic area off the N1 (which runs along the coast, through thick forest vegetation and river estuaries)
At the entrance, a life-size Ariane 5 rocket
Our first-stop is the Musee de l’Espace
with interactive scientific displays and introduction to the space programme and history
with a few displays for conspiracy theorists...
and under 10s
Then the meat of the trip - onto a coach which drove a 15-20km loop from the museum base, stopping at several launch sites including Soyez, Ariane 5 and its parallel railtracks linking to assembly and refuelling buildings, then the Russian-built Vega and being-built Ariane 6 launch pads. Gripping few hours.
and, in S.L.d.M., we set off through town
where the Saturday market is in full flow
to the penal colony arrival camp, the Camp de la Transportation. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get on the ferry out of Kourou to the Îles du Salut (Salvation Islands), 11km or so off the coast, the most famous of which is the "Île du Diable", a penal colony from 1852 where some of the worst criminals of France were imprisoned (or political prisoners such as Alfred Dreyfus were held to be out of the way). This however is where they were held and processed on arrival from France.
Austere empty buildings are closing (by now, it's lunchtime and we are in France, after all), but the upper levels have tantalising views across the Maroni river and to Suriname.
next morning, back to the pirogues to negoiate our return passage across the Maroni
Once stamped out of Surname and into no man's land, a border-river crossing. Fantastic.
The mode of crossing the Maroni river is a US$5pp pirogue (speedboat-cum-gondola)
bit wobbly and jolly close to the water's surface but most enjoyable
On the other side is St Laurent du Maroni
Now, I know it's France but it still feels very improbable!
OK, that feels better. Jungle and baguettes!
D makes the 1km walk to Jumbo cars where we're expecting to collect our little blue hire-car, and the large Super-U supplies a marvellous feast, which we guzzle at a picnic area off the N1 (which runs along the coast, through thick forest vegetation and river estuaries)
Onwards, and more reminders we're in France
We're aiming for Kourou, site of the European Space Centre, where we've booked ourselves onto a tour tomorrow (too late, we realise that an actual take-off of a satelite headed for Mercury was scheduled for next week...)
We're aiming for Kourou, site of the European Space Centre, where we've booked ourselves onto a tour tomorrow (too late, we realise that an actual take-off of a satelite headed for Mercury was scheduled for next week...)
Our base for two nights is the Oiseau du Paradis, happily situated on a bend of the River Sinnamary
Next morning, successfully to Kourou (and luckily we ignore the satnav's suggestion, which would have taken us off limits, straight past two rocket launch sites and
the solid fuel factory!)
So we make it to the Centre Spatiale Guyanais. It opened in 1968, chosen for two particular geographical requirements which make it suitable as a location for a spaceport: it's near the equator (so less energy is required to manoeuvre a spacecraft into an equatorial, geostationary orbit), and has open sea to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures are less likely to fall on human habitation
At the entrance, a life-size Ariane 5 rocket
Our first-stop is the Musee de l’Espace
with interactive scientific displays and introduction to the space programme and history
with a few displays for conspiracy theorists...
and under 10s
Then the meat of the trip - onto a coach which drove a 15-20km loop from the museum base, stopping at several launch sites including Soyez, Ariane 5 and its parallel railtracks linking to assembly and refuelling buildings, then the Russian-built Vega and being-built Ariane 6 launch pads. Gripping few hours.
Early start for the 145km drive to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, stopping in Iracoubo
to see the Eglise St Joseph, whose interior
has intricate 1809s frescos by (talented) convict Pierre Huguet
and, in S.L.d.M., we set off through town
where the Saturday market is in full flow
to the penal colony arrival camp, the Camp de la Transportation. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get on the ferry out of Kourou to the Îles du Salut (Salvation Islands), 11km or so off the coast, the most famous of which is the "Île du Diable", a penal colony from 1852 where some of the worst criminals of France were imprisoned (or political prisoners such as Alfred Dreyfus were held to be out of the way). This however is where they were held and processed on arrival from France.
Austere empty buildings are closing (by now, it's lunchtime and we are in France, after all), but the upper levels have tantalising views across the Maroni river and to Suriname.
Our return walk
took a slightly different route past Palais de Justice, Mairee, Banque de
Guyane and main church.
next morning, back to the pirogues to negoiate our return passage across the Maroni
and our lift back to Paramaribo
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